The announcement that a total of €200 million will be allocated in 2020 to fund activities for the processing and marketing of Irish agricultural products has been welcomed by the Irish Co-Operative Organisation Society (ICOS).
A statement from ICOS has outlined the funding is a national scheme, funded by national financing.
In welcoming the funding, the statement said: “The development is a response to calls from ICOS and the Irish business sector for flexibility in the application of state aid rules to allow for such schemes.”
It noted that the funding will “allow for the necessary business investment to take place in response to supply-chain and infrastructure adjustments resulting from Brexit”.
Continuing, the ICOS statement noted: “The UK remains the top market for the Irish agri-food sector and for many Irish cooperatives and now, investment is needed and is currently underway in the sector.
Investment is needed to diversity product portfolios, away from cheddar cheese – which is traditionally reliant on the UK market – into new products, such as mozzarella or other cheese types, destined for the international market.
“These investments will provide cooperatives with greater flexibility in their processing abilities no matter the outcome of the EU-UK trade negotiations, so that they can better target their production to products with the greatest market returns and to export markets which are most accessible,” the statement outlined.
The funding will therefore provide a much-needed boost to help this investment take place and prepare the sector for the future EU-UK trading reality.
Not only is this funding to be used for Brexit-related adjustments, but also to promote sustainable growth in the sector.
Concluding, the statement outlined: “The funding will be administrated by Enterprise Ireland and we look forward to working with it on details of the scheme to ensure its efficient utilisation by Irish cooperatives.”